Sara Hernandez grew up in Salinas, California before attending Duke University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy Studies.
After Duke, Sara joined Teach for America and taught 6th grade English and History at Johnnie Cochran Middle School in Mid-City Los Angeles from ...
Sara Hernandez grew up in Salinas, California before attending Duke University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy Studies.
After Duke, Sara joined Teach for America and taught 6th grade English and History at Johnnie Cochran Middle School in Mid-City Los Angeles from 2005- 2008.
During her time as a Los Angeles Unified School teacher, Sara worked to get three of her students full ride scholarships to private college-prep independent high schools in the area. With momentum building around this project, she started the non-profit Helping Young People Excel- Los Angeles where she served as the volunteer Executive Director until this past June.
HYPE Los Angeles provides talented low-income middle school students in Los Angeles with the guidance and resources to qualify for admission at elite college-prep independent high schools in the area. HYPE provides a blend of intensive programming and services to help students gain admission, finance their education, and succeed in high school and beyond. HYPE currently identifies and works with middle school students across Los Angeles, in neighborhoods such as Pacoima, Arleta, MacArthur Park, Pico Union, Crenshaw District, Mid-City, Mar Vista, Watts and Boyle Heights. HYPE has a 100% high school placement rate, 100% high school graduation rate and 100% college matriculation rate. HYPE alumni have been accepted to universities across the United States including MIT, Georgetown, Cal Tech, Tufts, UC Berkley and USC.
Sara earned a Masters in Education from Loyola Marymount University in 2007 and received her Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School in May, 2011. Sara has done policy and legal work for the Los Angeles City Attorney- Safe Schools Division, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office- Major Crimes.
After law school, Sara joined the California Charter School Association as the Los Angeles Regional Director of Policy and Advocacy.
Sara currently serves as Downtown Area Director and Special Counsel for Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar, managing a team that is actively working to revitalize Downtown Los Angeles through increased economic development, policy changes, improved constituency services, transportation alternatives and a multitude of public infrastructure projects and public/private partnerships.